Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I will conclude my address-in-reply speech that I started on 26 September and continued on 8 November. When my remarks were delayed last time, I was referencing the $5 million ripped out of Wagga Wagga for a veterans wellness centre. Wagga Wagga is a military centre. It is the only inland regional city centre with bases for all three of our armed services. For the RAAF, it's home to No. 31 Squadron and Ground Academy, including No. 1 Recruit Training Unit. The Air Force's basic recruit training school has a history dating back to 1939. Soldiering begins at Blamey Barracks, Kapooka, home of the khaki since 1942. Since 1993, Navy trade training has been conducted at RAAF Wagga.

Latest census data indicates there are more than 3,800 veterans in the Riverina electorate, of whom 1,426 reside in Wagga Wagga. For Labor to strip the funding allocated to a much-needed Wagga Wagga veterans wellbeing facility and plonk it in one of their own seats is appalling. People must come before politics. If ever a community deserved, needed, wanted or warranted a veterans wellbeing amenity, it is Wagga Wagga. This tricky government has denied Wagga Wagga that rightful opportunity. I will keep advocating and continue fighting to see common sense prevail and for Pro Patria and the local RSL to receive the funding our city and our region has earned. We need it. We want it. We demand it. I call on the veterans' affairs minister to come and visit Wagga and see for himself just how much we need it.

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